Pneumatic or inflatable play balls are commonly employed and used by children or even adults for recreational purposes. One type of inflatable play ball is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,382 issued May 30, 1989. This patent describes a pneumatic play ball for use by a child having a fixed-shape outer casing formed of a non-stretchable, flexible, fabric material and an internal, mouth-inflatable bladder in the form of a balloon, wherein the stem of the balloon extends out from a casing opening and after inflation the casing opening is closed with a separate closure. The inflated play ball is fully encased by the outer casing; no portion thereof is extruded therefrom, and the ball is inflated to provide for high bounce in use for recreational purposes.
It is desired to provide for an inflatable recreational ball for use by adults and children, particularly a ball which may be employed in a regular manner as an inflatable ball, and optionally may be employed by the operator bouncing the ball, wherein the inflatable play ball may be bounced repeatedly against the hand of the user, with or without an elastic loop handle means.